Praising and prodding Congress at once, President Barack Obama on Wednesday said a vast reform of the U.S. health insurance system is required to head off instability to families, industry and the government itself.

NEW YORK—-Fitch Ratings assigns an ‘AA+’ rating to Indian River County, Florida’s $28.7 million water and sewer revenue bonds, series 2009. The bonds are expected to sell through bank qualified negotiation the week of July 30th.

A U.N. body says Latin America’s economy will shrink 1.9 percent in 2009 as a result of the current global crisis. The U.N. Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean says recovery will start later in the year and that the region will post a growth of 3.1 percent in 2010.

Georgia’s jobless rate soared to a record 10.1 percent in June and labor officials Wednesday urged lawmakers to develop measures to combat a decline that’s cost the state 209,500 jobs in the last year.

Shares of several staffing companies climbed with the broader market Wednesday, but an analyst cautioned that investors may be acting on premature hopes that unemployment may be leveling off.

Stocks were solidly higher on Wednesday, climbing to session highs after the release of the Federal Reserve’s staff forecasts in the minutes of its recent policy-setting meetings.

Major business events and economic events scheduled for Thursday: WASHINGTON — Labor Department releases weekly jobless claims, 8:30 a.m.

Strong second-quarter results and, even more importantly, a better-than-expected forecast from the world’s largest chip maker pushed semiconductor stocks broadly higher Wednesday.

Shares of trucking company J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. dropped on Wednesday as shareholders reacted to the news that its second-quarter profit fell by more than half and missed Wall Street expectations.

Drug developer and medical device maker Abbott Laboratories said Wednesday its second-quarter profit fell 3 percent on a mix of buyout charges and lower drug sales, but the results still met Wall Street forecasts.